Scream 5 — Unmasked: A Review
Hello, Sidney!
It’s been over a decade since the last Scream film slashed its way through theaters, and now it’s back to do it again. Only this time, it’s more vicious than the previous two entries in the franchise and still meta as ever.
Scream is one of my favorite horror film franchises and I sincerely believe the first two are a cinematic masterclass in suspense and horror. So when I heard this sequel, or “requel” as some would say, was coming to theaters, I was head over heels and anxious all at the same time, because there’s always a risk of further ruining a great franchise — no offense to Halloween. We still love you, sis.
Back in 1996, the horror genre was revived by Scream due to its self-referential awareness, wit, and its Machiavellian killer. The characters in Scream (1996) grew up on slasher films, knew the tired cliches in and out, made fun of it, but still managed to fall victim to a masked killer’s blade who loved movie trivia. Being meta back then was new and innovative, now it’s deemed to be played out. However, this new Scream still finds a way to bring itself to life with the very thing that defined it 25 years ago.
Scream (2022), informally known as Scream 5, opens in a very reminiscent Scream (1996) fashion. A high school girl, Tara, home alone, receives several phone calls on her landline but declines the calls. Tara declining the call made me chuckle in theaters because you would think that’s all you have to do to end this movie and be done with Ghostface, right?
Unfortunately for Tara, she was dead wrong.
Ghostface sends Tara threatening text messages and traps her into a tormenting game of horror movie trivia. Let’s just say from there, things become progressively worse for this witty teen and extremely brutal, to the point where even I clenched at the violence. Serving as an eerie reminder that things like this do happen in real life. But, as audiences, we get to experience it at safe distance, although when we leave the theater, on a subconscious level, the Ghostfaces’ of the world lurk in the back of our minds.
From there, we meet our new leading lady, Sam (Melissa Barrera), who is informed about the tragedy involving her sister Tara back in their hometown, Woodsboro. Now, Sam and her boyfriend Richie return to Woodsboro to investigate, only to find out the killer knows a dirty little secret about Sam’s family, which serves as the driving force behind Ghostface’s emergence.
Killings ensue left and right within Tara’s friend group, and the OG cast, Sidney, Dewey, and Gale, make their badass returns to put an end to Ghostface once and for all.
Seeing the captivating Neve Campbell return to her defining role as Sidney Prescott in her fly leather jacket, Glock ready, was truly iconic. If she’s learned one thing from surviving the last four times, it’s that you must bring a gun to a knife fight, and baby she did that! Sidney stays ready so she doesn’t have to get ready, take note. Her growth in the franchise is stellar. She’s even bored with the killer at one point in the film and hangs up on him, unphased, like a G.
Midway through the film, as always, I was so lost on who the killer could be, even though I had my suspicions because the writers and directors did a phenomenal job of making you suspect one person, and then five minutes later suspecting someone completely different. That’s the beauty in Scream, there are so many suspects, and the killer or killers are never the same people.
It’s a fresh new cast and the legacy cast trying to survive, similar to Scream 4, yet the commentary on this one is different. But, in typical Scream fashion, it feels timely.
Scream has always utilized technology in a clever way, in particular, there’s one scene where Ghostface uses the modern home security system that’s accessible from a character’s smartphone to his cunning advantage. Again, reminding us all that we’re not as safe as we think we are.
The film shed light on toxic fandom, Hollywood’s infatuation with reboots/sequels, and the god-forsaken obsession with “elevated horror”. A term that came into play in the mid-2010s.
Personally, I got a lot of joy out of how the writers poked fun at overzealous fans who try to hold dominion over film franchises that defined their childhoods and incite backlash if you don’t get “their favorite movie right”, and filmgoers who fawn over horror films such as Get Out, Hereditary, or The Witch, pretentious enough to expect all horror films to be like the aforementioned ones. All great films in their own right, even I loved the first two mentioned, but not all of us want that all the time. Some of us just want Scream.
While I may love movies and be obsessed with them, there’s an extent to it. Which is why I could sit back and laugh about how the creators of Scream 5 are criticizing audiences about criticizing them, which is meta in itself and brilliant.
“This is life. This isn’t a movie.” -Sidney Prescott
As a screenwriter, I do find it frustrating when I’ve been in creative spaces and I’m told “Hollywood” is looking for something more “grounded, elevated” — like Get Out. There’s nothing wrong with wanting those things, but, it’s just like — if y’all mention Jordan Peele or Get Out to me one more time…
This idea behind horror films having to be more “elevated” or sophisticated is incredibly divisive and elitist, considering it’s already an outcasted genre. Even Ghostface was fed up with elevated horror in the new Scream.
Scream, like Get Out, are both respectively brilliant if you ask me.
Historically, horror films such as Rosemary’s Baby, The Shining, and even Psycho are considered top-tier psychological horror classics, but no one in the horror world ever calls it elevated because it’s unnecessary and insulting. We know some horror films are campy and schlocky, however, some are genius. You’ll find that in any film genre, not just horror. It’s just easier to dismiss horror because that’s the norm.
Scream 5 wants you to it knows it’s a slasher and it’s fine with that. It’s a film that criticizes itself, the Hollywood elites, and the consumers — us.
I wish Kevin Williamson, the original writer of Scream, would’ve penned this new Scream, but I can understand why new writers were brought on, and I’m fine with that. Either way, the film was one hell of a ride, and I think the late Wes Craven, the original director of the Scream franchise, would be pleased with this new entry.
It’s a great film that’s heartwrenching, holds no punches, with noteworthy death scenes, fight sequences, and witty dialogue. Not as scary as the first two, but I’m learning now that a horror movie doesn’t necessarily have to be scary to be good.
By the end of this bloodbath, it brings with itself a new generation of survivors.
